Fractured Reflection
by denise1
Summary: Captured by aliens, escaping is only the beginning of the adventure


Note- many thanks to Apocrypha for the beta. The basic idea for this sprang from various discussions on the lists about how one little act way back in season 1 might have changed everything

Fractured Reflection

By

Denise

Sam slipped furtively down the dark corridors, for once thanking the rampant chauvinism of the universe. At times she openly resented the attitudes of the aliens they met, the assumption that she had to be the wife or mate of one of the guys, usually the colonel, but this time it had actually worked out in their favor. The two goons who'd taken her from the cell to meet the chief never knew what hit them. It was of course a mixed blessing considering the odiferous man had the idea she'd jump at the chance to become his newest wife. There had to be something wrong with the universe if she couldn't get a date on her own planet but collected marriage proposals by the dozen off world.

Ignoring the twinge from her bruised hand she concentrated instead on finding her way back to the cell and putting the key she'd taken from the guards to good use. If all worked out as planned she could free the guys and they could make it to the gate and get off this planet. It might not be easy, especially if Teal'c was still unconscious as he'd been when she'd been taken, but they would manage.

Hearing echoing footsteps she quickly glanced around and ducked into a small alcove. The footsteps came closer and she pulled back, trying to conceal herself in the deep shadows of the opening. Her fingers encountered an oddly smooth surface and she was swept by a dizzy feeling. Afraid that she would pass out, she held out her hand to steady herself and was pushed forward, the momentum sending her crashing to her knees on the stone floor. Trying to protect herself she rolled and barely had time to see the angry faces of the guards she'd just incapacitated looming over her. She heard a muttered curse in their native language then no more as his boot connected with her head and the darkness became complete.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jack sighed and played with his watch, flipping the cover on and off of the crown. "Jack, if you don't stop doing that I'm gonna strangle you," Daniel threatened.

"What? Ooh," he said at the man's pointed stare at his wrist. "Sorry. How is he?"

Daniel looked at the supine form of Teal'c lying beside him. "The same. Whatever they did it hurt him bad," Daniel replied. Teal'c had been unconscious for the past several hours since being returned from his interrogation. Neither he nor Jack had been treated so roughly so they guessed that the inhabitants of the planet had a thing against Jaffa.

"Junior'll fix him," Jack said, checking his watch again.

"How long?" Daniel asked, knowing exactly why his friend was so nervous. He'd been the same way while Teal'c had been gone and he presumed when he'd been interrogated as well.

"Almost an hour," Jack said quietly. They both knew just how much damage could be done to the human body in an hour.

"They kept you for two hours," he said in way of reassurance.

"Yeah," Jack replied.  Daniel knew his friend would not be reassured until Sam was back among them. He'd been concerned when Teal'c had been taken and he presumed himself, but Sam was different. No matter how much she didn't like to admit it, she had a vulnerability that they didn't necessarily have.  Just like back on Simarka, they feared she might have been singled out because she was a woman.

The rattling of a key in the lock drew both he and Jack to their feet. The door opened a bit and a slight figure slid in then pushed the door mostly shut. "Colonel? Daniel?"

"Carter. What the…." Jack hurried forward.

"I love male chauvinist aliens," she quipped. "Is Teal'c awake?"

"No."

"We don't have long until the guards I took out wake up sir."

"Daniel, give me a hand." Jack walked over and he and Daniel picked up Teal'c, each wrapping an arm across their shoulders. "Weapons?"

"I didn't have time to look for them sir. We'll just have to hope they didn't find our extra stuff on the FRED." Ascertaining that they were behind her, she opened the door again and the quartet slipped out of the cell.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"And then we made it back to the FRED, grabbed our extra GDO and beat it home," Jack reported to Hammond.

"Do you have any idea why these aliens imprisoned you?" The general asked, looking at the trio before him. This was becoming too much of a habit for his flagship team. Far too many times in the past two years he'd sat at this table and heard tales of imprisonment or near misses. What happened to the good old days of exploring nice peaceful planets?

"I can't think of anything we did," Jack reported. "Daniel barely had time for his 'we're peaceful explorers' speech before they were raising their weapons and getting all unfriendly."

"They didn't like Teal'c," Sam said coldly gaining her the attention of the rest.

"Excuse me Captain?"

"Sam…I don't think…."

"The leader seemed to take personal offense at Teal'c. And he was the one of us that was hurt the worst. It just makes sense that they've had run-ins with Jaffa before and they don't like them."

"Is this true Colonel?"

"You could look at it that way. Then again maybe they didn't like the color of his skin. We really don't know WHAT set them off," he said, sending Sam a look.

Sensing the temperature of the room chilling a bit, and knowing the only way to truly know what the natives had taken offense to was to wait and hear it from Teal'c Hammond decided that nothing further was to be gained from further debriefing. "We'll continue this when Teal'c awakens. Until then you have seventy-two hours down time. I suggest you use it wisely," he said, a note of warning in his voice. The members of SG-1 apparently needed some time to clear the air, maybe time away from the SGC would give that to them, or allow whatever was the problem to work itself out. "Dismissed." He got to his feet and went into his office.

Sam and Jack both got to their feet then gathered their notes once the man had left the room. "So, you two got any plans for the next couple of days?" Jack asked the pair.

"Sir?" Sam stopped and shot him a curious look.

"You know, plans…the doing of something," he prodded frowning at her blank look.

"Just cleaning the fish tank," Daniel said absently. "Why?"

"I was thinking of dinner or something, maybe I'd give the old barbecue a workout."

"Sounds good to me…Sam?"

"Huh?" she asked, holding her notebook to her chest and frowning at them.

"Dinner? Jack burning meat on the grill," Daniel prodded.

"Aah no…thank you sir. May I be excused?" Barely waiting for permission she turned and beat a hasty retreat from the room.

"Well that was…weird," Daniel said, turning to Jack.

"Yeah. Maybe she's having a bad day?"

"Maybe more happened in that prison than we know about."

"Not according to Warner. We'll give her some time."

"Jack?"

"If I learned nothing else from fifteen years of marriage is that there are definitely times to keep your distance. If she's still acting odd when we get back we'll ask her," he said leaving his friend from the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Samantha Carter entered her house and locked the door behind her wondering vaguely if she was losing her mind.

The whole day had been one oddity after another, starting with the colonel's invitation to dinner. She couldn't remember the last time he'd invited her over, actually she could. Over a year ago for Daniel's wake. Oh she'd been invited since then, just not 'invited'.

Then there were a dozen little things on her way home. She'd swore her keys were in the center drawer of her desk not the upper right one, and that she'd parked closer to the main entrance. And then there had been the stoplight on Academy Drive that she'd sworn had been a stop sign just last week.

She walked into the kitchen and pulled out a large bottle of rum from the cabinet. Pouring three fingers into the glass she left the bottle on the cabinet and opened the freezer, plopping some ice cubes into the alcohol. Maybe she was finally cracking up, she thought morosely, climbing the stairs intent on a long hot bath.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Korra walked down the dank halls his recording device held out before him. His mission was nearly complete. The K'trans were far from the most hospitable people in the universe but they weren't allies to any goa'uld. Which was what the Tok'ra had suspected. He just had to finish his scans of the palace and then he could leave. It might have been easier if he'd waited a bit longer, until their annual festival was over and the separate clans broke back up for the winter but he was nearing the end of his time here, it having taken longer than anticipated to infiltrate one of the clans.

Personally he felt the in-depth scans for technology were a waste of time, certainly not worth the months he'd spent on the planet, but who was he to flaunt the wishes of the Tok'ra High Council?

'Such cynicism. You've been spending too much time with Jacob,' Marish chided.

'And you've been spending too much time with Selmac,' Korra teased his symbiote.

'I'll have you know that Selmac and I have been working together since….Korra?'

'I sense it too. Goa'uld?" Korra's hand slipped into his pocket and pulled out his zat-nik-a-tel. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and his nerves jingled with the twinge produced by being in close contact with a blended human. He'd been so long on this planet away from all hosts that he felt it especially acutely. And it was that distinct lack of blended humans that had him worried.

'No. It's different.'

Following his symbiote's prodding he approached the heavy wooden door peeking through the small barred window. In the dim light from the torches behind him he could barely make out the form curled up in the corner of the room.  'Marish?'

'It's faint…there is only one way to know for sure."

Korra grasped the heavy padlock on the door and with Marsh's help, gave it a hard yank, breaking the hasp. He cautiously entered the room and made his way over to the motionless form. 'It could be dead.'

'It is alive, barely.' Korra reached out and moved the figure to its back, revealing a pale face. 'It is not Tok'ra, at least none that I know."

Korra felt a burst of curiosity from his symbiote and felt his eyes move to survey the figure, lingering upon an identification patch. Marish surged to control, dilating the man's eyes so they could better see. 'Marish, I hate when you do that, it gives me a headache,' Korra complained. He felt his arms reach out and pick up the frail bundle. 'Marish, what are you doing?' he demanded as his body stood up barely effected by the extra weight.

'We need to return to Vorash now,' his friend demanded hurrying from the cell.

'Marish, please, what's going on?' They were striding quickly through the halls seemingly concentrating more on speed than stealth.

'This person is dying and we can not permit that to happen. We will argue about it later,' his symbiote promised silencing Korra's arguments, for now.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jack strolled down the corridors of the SGC whistling absently through his teeth. He'd had a great three days off, not doing much but some odds and ends around the house. He'd occasionally entertained the thought of selling the house and cutting back to an apartment but dismissed it each time. The additional privacy and space of a home was well worth the annoyance of having to mow a lawn and shovel the walks.

But as much as he'd enjoyed his down time he was ready to get back to work. Pulling the key card out of his pocket he unlocked his office door, frowning a bit at all the paper residing in his inbox. Evidentially the rest of the base hadn't been slacking off.

Turning on his computer he set to clearing out his e-mail while stacking the papers into piles according to their importance.

"Jack?" He looked up to see Daniel at his doorway. "We got a mission?" He pointed at the computer.

"Yeah, I was just getting there," he opened the e-mail as he spoke. He quickly scanned the few lines telling him of the where, when and what that he would have to know prior to briefing with the general.

"Looks like an easy one," Daniel said, setting his coffeecup on the edge of Jack's desk while he read from the paper. "Just the three of us since Janet doesn't want to let Teal'c go off world yet."

"Yeah, I stopped by there on the way in. Whatever drug those natives used really knocked him for a loop," Jack said. "Fraiser's going to release him later today."

Jack read the information about them returning to the Beta Site to check the readings from monitoring equipment they'd left there months ago. When Apophis had been breathing down their necks the Beta Site had looked inviting, but now that they had the time to fully research it, the SGC was monitoring it to make absolutely sure it WAS a nice planet. And possibly a future home to an SGC outpost, though Daniel didn't know that yet. That whole project was his and Hammond's idea of something for the future.

"It does look like a lame one," Jack remarked. A forty-eight hour survey mission on what they knew to be a totally deserted planet. The danger level was minimal along with the entertainment value. Sure he knew it would be a welcome assignment but not one SG-1 usually got. The nice safe missions were usually saved for the newer teams.

"Maybe he thought we needed a break," Daniel suggested, drinking his coffee.

"Maybe," Jack shrugged. "I'll ask him at the briefing."

"Did you talk to Sam at all?"

Jack shook his head. "No. And I'm not going to unless it's a problem. Everyone has bad days."

"Ok." Daniel got to his feet. "Maybe that's what the general had in mind. Two days off world, perfect time to corner someone," he said. "I'll see you at the briefing."

"Yeah. Later." Jack watched him leave the room and turned back to the papers on his desk. Dumping a pile of memos in the trash he set himself to reading the rest. He only had a few hours to catch things up before the mission and he needed to make the most of it or he knew from experience that he'd just have more to do when he got back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sam idly watched the campfire flare as she stirred it with a long stick. She leaned back slightly, a feeling of utter contentment washing over her. She honestly couldn't remember the last time she felt this good.

Their mission to the Beta Site had been textbook perfect. The planet was just as abandoned as it was supposed to be, the weather beautiful and the companionship welcome.

It had been months since she'd been in the company of the rest of her team without the all too familiar pervasive tenseness she'd grown accustomed to.

During their hike the conversation had wandered from topic to topic, good-natured barbs flying in all directions. At first she'd refrained from joining in, she knew the deep friendship between the colonel and Daniel was something she'd never have, but after repeated attempts by both of them to draw her in she'd finally participated, amazed at how easy it was.

A rustling from the tent caught her attention and she reached for her rifle, only to relax her hand when she saw the colonel exit the shelter, his hand scratching his head before donning his familiar ballcap.

"Sir."

"Carter. All quiet?" He picked up the small coffeepot by the fire and poured himself a cup.

"Yes sir." She got to her feet and waited for him to dismiss her. "Colonel?" she asked when he simply stared into his cup.

"Huh?" He looked up distracted then frowned as he saw her waiting for him. "Oh yeah, go get some sleep."

"Thank you sir. Good night."

He watched her crawl into the tent and turned his attention back to his coffee.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jacob tiredly slogged across the dunes to the waiting transport rings. He glanced around searching for the sentries that he knew had to be guarding the path from the stargate to the rings. He knew they were there, and if he got close enough he could sense their presence, but they would only reveal themselves if he were a threat. He'd been told that was their standard procedure so that if he and Selmac were captured they would be unable to reveal all their defenses to their captors. And they thought humans were paranoid.

'We have our reasons Jacob,' Selmac said, privately enjoying her host's thoughts.

'Oh I'm sure you do it's just that it would be nice to have a little help with the baggage is all.'

'The baggage is all your fault. You are the one who went on the…shopping spree I believe you call it,' she chided him remembering her host's amazement at the contents of the large market on the planet they'd been on. It amused her that for all his years her host was incredibly naïve.

'Christmas is right around the corner,' he reminded. 'And her birthday a few months after that. My kid saved my life the least I can do is remember her at Christmas,' he explained for the tenth time.

'And what if we have to evacuate? You do realize that there is often precious little time to save lives much less material possessions?'

'Sel, can we just agree to disagree on this? And anyway I seem to recall you going ga-ga over the necklace,' he reminded her.

'I am an admirer of beauty in all its forms,' she replied haughtily privately embarrassed a bit. In truth Sarouche had not liked any form of shopping usually depending on others to procure items for her. Over the centuries Selmac had found that one of the best things about having a host was tactile sensation. All it took was to realize that without the host her sense of smell, taste, touch, sight and hearing were greatly muted for her to appreciate the incredible advantages of a host.

'Aahah. Just remember I am NOT modeling this stuff for you. I've done a lot of things in my life but wearing women's clothes and jewelry is not one of them. You want a model you're going to have to sweet talk Garshaw.'

Arriving at the rings they stood upon them and were transported down into the tunnels. "Selmac, Jacob, I am glad you have returned," Martouf said getting up from where he had been sitting, obviously waiting for their return.

"Martouf, what's up?" Jacob walked past him eager to stow his purchases before the briefing.

"We have been trying to reach you. Our operative said you left the mission early. Where did you go?" Martouf demanded.

"Just a little errand to run. No big deal. Just let me put this away and I'll go brief the council." Jacob continued to his room.

"There is something you should see first." Martouf took his arm and pulled him down another corridor.

"Martouf, can't it wait? I am tired and hungry…"

"It is exceedingly urgent," Lantash said with a flare of his eyes.

'Not much is urgent to Lantash, go with him Jacob,' Selmac advised, her 'voice' worried.

Jacob followed the younger man down the corridor and to a part of the tunnels he had never been in before. They entered a small room at the end of the tunnel. It was dim with only a few of the crystals emitting light. There was a bed along one wall and Asha was sitting on its edge, a damp towel in her hand. "Korra found her on a planet. Apparently she'd been a prisoner," Lantash said as Jacob walked forward.

His heart sank when he recognized the person. "Sam?" He hurried forward almost pushing Asha to the floor. "What happened to her?" He put his hand on her forehead, alarmed at the heat he found there.

"We do not know. There were internal injuries which we fixed but she seems to have some kind of infection that the healing device will not cure," Asha reported.

"Sam honey? It's dad. Wake up kiddo," he ordered, taking her limp hand in his. She stirred slightly and opened her eyes, blinking weakly. "Sam?"

"Dad?" She whispered.

"Yeah kiddo. What happened?"

She frowned as she tried to remember. "I…" She looked around the room. "Where are they?"

"Who?"

"Colonel, Daniel…they were there…" Her voice broke off in a spate of harsh coughing. Alarmed he could do nothing but watch as she struggled to breathe through the coughs.

"Ok. It's ok. We'll find them. You just take it easy honey ok?" She nodded weakly and slumped back asleep in seconds. "It sounds like pneumonia."

"Pneumonia?" Asha asked, clearly unfamiliar with the term.

"It's a disease humans get. Messes with your lungs but antibiotics usually fix it right up."

"We do not have those Jacob," Asha said.

"Why the hell not?" He demanded angrily.

"Jacob, we have no need for those kinds of medicines," Martouf said in a comforting voice.

'He speaks the truth. Hosts are immune to diseases so we have no need for such things. The healing device will only repair trauma that a symbiote can not,' Selmac told her host.

"How long has she been like this?"

"Korra brought her back five days ago. I do not know how long she was in the cell before that," Asha reported.

"I need to take her back to earth," Jacob said, bending down to pick Sam up.

"That would not be wise," Asha said, putting a restraining hand on Jacob.

"Asha, she's dying. We have medicine on Earth, nice primitive medicine that'll fix her right up."

'Jacob, she is weak, a trip through the stargate would likely not be good for her,' Selmac said.

"The chaa'ppai is hard on healthy humans. It would likely do her harm," Martouf said.

"Fine," Jacob caved under the twin opinions. "Then I'm going to Earth to bring help here," he stated.

"No. Our location….."

"I don't give a fig about our location. The rest of you can move if you want. Earth is our ally for cryin out loud. We can trust them. I will not leave my daughter here to die!"

"We must get permission from the council…." Asha started.

"Screw the council!"

"Jacob, let Asha speak to the council," Lantash said meeting Jacob's gaze. "Hurry Asha."

The healer fled the room. "What are you doing?"

Martouf blinked and smiled wryly. "By the time Asha returns we will have gone to the world of the Tau'ri," he said.

"Martouf, Lantash, the council has possession of the…..whatever, the thing that opens the gate. We have to get it from them," Jacob said.

"You are indeed fortunate that Garshaw likes you," he said, pulling the GDO from a pouch at his belt. "Now come Jacob, the sooner we leave the sooner we can return."

"Sam…"

"She will be fine for a short time. Asha will return in a few moments and be appropriately shocked at our absence. Now come."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sam crested the small hill and spied the DHD with relief. They were practically home. Just a few more minutes, then a debriefing and likely some time off. Oddly enough she was actually looking forward to going home this time. She still couldn't believe how things had been the past two days. Both Daniel and the colonel had been civil, friendly even. There had been no barbs or awkward silences. Almost against her will she'd felt herself relaxing in their company. She didn't know what had happened to cause the sudden change in their attitudes but she welcomed it. Maybe she'd tear up those transfer papers she'd filled out a few weeks ago.

"Carter, dial it up," Jack ordered.

"Yes sir." She stepped up to the DHD and punched in the address then the code on the GDO once the wormhole opened.

"Ready sir."

"Good. Hey, assuming Teal'c's been sprung you two want to come over for pizza?" Jack asked.

"Sure, but no peppers if Teal'c's there," Daniel said.

"Carter? Unless of course you have some plans."

Sam hesitated. "Sure why not," she said in a rush.

"Sweet." They walked up the small flight of steps and through the stargate emerging a few seconds and thousands of light-years away. "What the…" Jack stopped dead as the Marines in the gateroom all raised their weapons.

"Any movement will be considered a hostile act," Hammond said coldly from the control room.

"General? Whatever it is I didn't do it, I swear," Jack said, raising his hands.

The door to the gateroom opened and Jacob hurried into the room pushing past the SF's and striding up the ramp. "Who the hell are you and what did you do to my daughter!" he demanded standing in front of Sam.

She backed away from him, shaking her head slightly. "No…you…you're dead…I…What's going on?" She looked around the room, her eyes skittering from the furious face of Jacob to the puzzled faces of her teammates seeing the all too familiar distrust in their expressions.

"That's what we intend to find out," Hammond said over the speakers. "Security, escort SG-1 to the infirmary."

Surrendering her pack and weapons Sam followed the other members of her team as they were escorted down the halls to the elevator, her eyes glued to the back of Jacob's head. She should have known it was too good to be true.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Apparently there was a new tech in the labs. She didn't know about Captain Carter's….special blood type so she merely scanned for alien bacteria and virus' and didn't notice the lack of the protein marker," Doctor Warner reported to the small group assembled in the briefing room. He'd been called in early so Janet could go with Jacob and Martouf to Vorash.

"Which explains why she's still here," Daniel said.

"Excuse me Doctor Jackson," Hammond interrupted. "What do you mean?"

"Sam and I talked about it after…the last time. According to her it's not possible for the same person to exist in two realities at the same time. But if there was a difference then maybe this Sam could exist in the same reality as our Sam," he tried to explain.

"I don't care how she got here, I want to know why," Jack demanded looking at the woman sitting in the chair, silent as theories were bounced about around her. "Why the hell are you masquerading as Captain Carter?"

"I am Captain Carter," she said quietly, still staring at the tabletop.

"You're not MY Captain Carter. My Captain Carter wouldn't leave someone to die," he ranted, not noticing how she flinched at his words.

"If the universes are similar it's possible that she didn't even know. I mean the one I went to was exactly like this one...well sorta exactly," Daniel said frowning. "You and the general had switched and…"

"Daniel," Jack cut him off.

"Sorry."

"The point is General, if we have an extra Carter then there's a universe that's missing one," Jack said, feeling the tell tale signs of a headache coming on. Nothing was more guaranteed to give him a headache than time travel or alternate realities.

"And a quantum mirror that we don't know about, unless you came through the one we have?" Daniel said.

"If yours is in Nevada like ours then no," Sam answered, still staring intently at the tabletop.

Daniel looked at the woman puzzled by her uncharacteristic submissive behavior. The Sam Carter he knew would have been bouncing ideas around trying to solve the puzzle, not sitting quietly in her chair as if she wanted them to forget that she existed. "Why don't Sam and I go over some old mission reports and see if we can find where the switch happened?" He suggested, shooting Jack and the General a meaningful look. Maybe if he got her alone she would open up a bit.

"That sounds like an excellent idea Doctor Jackson," Hammond said. "Captain Carter, I hope I don't need to assign security to insure that you remain on the base?"

"No sir," she promised.

"Very well. Dismissed."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Here," Daniel said, picking some books up off the sofa so she could sit. "I've been a bit busy lately," he explained, searching for a place then settling for setting them on the floor.

"That's ok." She sat on the couch; her eyes scanning the room taking in its cramped appearance. She hadn't been in her Daniel's office for more than a year though it seemed both men shared the same tendency to clutter.

Daniel crossed the room and opened a tiny refrigerator, pulling out two cans of pop. He walked back and pulled a stool over then handed her one of the cans. She took it and stared at it. "You drink diet like our Sam don't you?" He asked.

"Aah, yeah. Thank you." She opened it and took a deep drink. "I just didn't…" She trailed off.

"What?" He prodded.

"It's nothing. Umm….I've been thinking. Things have been a little strange ever since the planet."

"The Beta Site? We were never separated there, at least not for too long." He blushed slightly remembering the reasons they separated, uni-sex pit stops were not a part of their SOP.

"No. The one before that. When we were locked up."

"I was thinking that too. Umm…we were captured together and put in the cell together."

"But they took each of us away for interrogation."

"Right. Then you got away from your guards and let us out."

"I did. I knocked out the two guards then headed back to the cell but I was having a hard time finding my way. I heard a noise and ducked into an alcove…there was this weird feeling, like…"

"Like a huge case of deja vu and all of a sudden you're somewhere, it looks like where you came from but just feels off?" he prodded, remembering how he'd felt when he'd went through the mirror.

"Yeah it….it made me dizzy and…I heard a noise, the guards." She looked up to him. "My…General Carter said they'd found…me in a cell. Maybe she got caught and I took her place, if the mirrors are in the same building in each reality then it stands to reason that I could walk right through the mirror and not even know it."

"I know the buildings were exactly the same when I did it so it makes sense," Daniel reasoned.

"Oh my God. What if MY SG-1 are still prisoners? I mean there's no me to break them out. We've got to go back." She shot to her feet.

"Wait. There's no way the general's going to let us go back right now," he reasoned.

"They've been prisoners for over a week. You said your Teal'c barely survived," she said, clearly agitated.

"Once we got him back here all Janet could do was monitor him while junior fixed whatever it was that the natives did to him. He can meditate in the cell as good as he did here," he said in an effort to calm her. "And anyway, I know the general, even if we go to him right now, he won't authorize a mission without sending a UAV and MALP through especially since the natives can certainly be considered hostile. We're not going anywhere until morning at the earliest."

She calmed and sat back down. "I guess you're right," she said dejectedly staring at the pop can.

"I wonder where they split off?" He asked.

"What?"

"The realities. Last time it seemed to be me not taking the job that Catherine offered me. I am alive in your reality right?"

She smiled slightly. "Yeah, you're alive. And on SG-1."

"So…maybe it was Jolinar since you don't have the protein marker."

"Could be. I was never her host."

"But you are allies with the Tok'ra."

"Yes."

"Then who…"

She looked him in the eyes. "You."

"ME?" Daniel asked, clearly shocked.

She nodded. "On Nasyia I was at the gate and you found the wounded man. We didn't know anything until the next morning when you wigged out in the gateroom and threatened to blow us all up. Got in a few good licks with the colonel too." She smiled grimly. "You almost died."

"The askrak?"

She nodded. "It infiltrated the base and nearly killed you. Teal'c and I stopped it in the gateroom, but not before it killed two other guards. Janet kept you alive but you were changed, withdrawn. If it wasn't for Cassandra you'd probably be in some loony bin right now."

"That's pretty much how it happened here. Except it was you and not me that was the host."

"I got Jolinar?" she asked, here eyes wide.

"Yeah. And Teal'c and I stopped the askrak, well more Teal'c than me. It sounds pretty much the same, right down to Cassie."

"Cassie didn't get hurt?"

"No. Umm…you had a hard time after Jolinar died, Cassie came and visited you and it seemed to help."

"Cassie visited me? She'd never do that."

"Why not? She adores you," Daniel said. "If it wasn't for you being on a field team I think you could have adopted her. As it is you're like her aunt."

Sam shook her head. "That's wrong. Cassie hates me. She refuses to even speak to me, hasn't for over a year," Sam said sadly. "Not since…."

"Since what?" Sam merely shook her head and he watched as her eyes welled with tears. "What happened?" She got to her feet and paced the room running her fingers over various statues and books. He got up and walked over to her. "Look, if Cassie hates you then Jolinar obviously isn't where the realities split." She continued to study the room, ignoring him. "Why are you afraid of Jack?" he asked abruptly.

She jerked her head around. "I saw how you've been around him lately, well around both of us but it's worse with Jack. It's like you expect him to, I don't know, shoot you at any minute or something."

"He just doesn't like me very much," she said, sliding the book she'd been looking at back to its place on the shelf.

"Doesn't like you? Since when?" Daniel asked shocked. He knew Jack was fond of Sam, maybe a little too fond some whispered although he knew it was some good old-fashioned respect mixed with some male chivalry.

"Since I left a little girl to die," she said sadly.

He stood there shocked, then his mind put two and two together. "You left her in the bunker?" he asked incredulous.

"Cold Blooded Carter, that's me," she said bitterly. "The bitch that follows orders and leaves children to die." She turned away from him. "Go ahead. Tell me how horrible I am. Ask me how the hell I could leave a twelve-year-old girl buried alive thirty stories down. Ask me if I can sleep at night knowing what I did. Tell me I'm a monster. Tell me how I'm supposed to protect the innocent not abandon them to die. Trust me, you can't say anything I haven't heard before."

Daniel stared at her back, shocked at what he was hearing. He flashed back to that horrible time over a year ago, the heartbreaking days when Cassie was so sick, the defeated look on Sam's face when she'd realized the girl was going to die, the way his heart had stopped when his friend went back down into that bunker, the anguish in her voice when she'd told Jack that Cassie was awake. The tiny bit of respect he'd seen in Jack's eyes after they'd all calmed down and realized that everyone was going to be all right. If her Jack O'Neill was anything like his Jack O'Neill he could see why the man wouldn't like her actions. True, she disobeyed orders, but as Jack had said more than once, any moron can follow orders. A true officer knows when not to. "Why didn't you go back down?" he asked quietly.

"I tried." She turned to him, tears streaming down her face. "I really tried. But once the doors close you're on a one way trip. The elevator wouldn't stop until it reached the top."

"And by then it was too late," he said picturing the events. No matter what she'd wanted to do chances are Jack would have physically restrained her to keep her from going back down.

"When there was no explosion we sent a haz-mat team down. They found her but she was scared out of her wits. It took months of therapy before she'd even talk to anyone. Daniel, my Daniel, tried to explain it to her but she still blames me," she said, wiping the tears off of her face.

"Surely everyone else knows what happened."

She shook her head. "Sure but…why I couldn't go back doesn't matter, the fact that I left did."

"And Jack?"

"He backed me with Hammond, told the general that I was following orders but…you know the colonel and kids. I think the only reason that he didn't kick me off of the team was because no one else would take me."

He could see exactly how things had happened. It was likely how he'd been treated on Abydos that first mission, but a hundred times worse. She'd be ostracized, tolerated but invisible to everyone. No wonder she'd been shocked by Jack's innocent dinner invitation a few days ago. Even his Sam wasn't the type to barge in where she wasn't wanted. It had to be an incredibly lonely existence.  "What about your dad? Couldn't you ask him for help, maybe get you reassigned somewhere else?"

She shook her head. "I didn't want to use his connections, I thought I could do it on my own but…It was made clear to me that someone with my reputation wasn't wanted. My only other choice was the private sector and there aren't a lot of jobs out there for astrophysicists. I was going to call him right before the mission but then…"

"He died," he said, remembering the shocked look on her face when Jacob had confronted her. For a second or two he'd actually thought she was in danger of fainting.

"It was a shock to see him. He looked so good. The last time I saw dad was right before he died. He was so weak."

"If you're allies with the Tok'ra why didn't you try to get him to be Selmac's host?"

"I tried but the colonel knew about your grandfather and thought he'd be a better host since he didn't have all the military knowledge. Nick refused and by then it was too late for dad. He was too weak to survive the trip and Selmac couldn't have healed him. He died a couple of months later. Selmac is in an old friend of General Hammond's, Admiral Kelsey. They seem to get along quite well," she said a note of longing in her voice.

He couldn't imagine what she was feeling. It would be hard enough to lose her father, but then to learn that if a different decision had been made months ago the man would still be alive. "Sam…" he reached out his hand to her.

"So, what have we found out?" Jack said from the doorway, and Sam pulled back from Daniel, her face again slipping into the bland mask she'd worn for the past few hours.

"Jack, any word from Jacob?" Daniel asked, concerned.

"Yeah. They contacted us. Fraiser doesn't think it's safe to take Carter through the gate for another day or two so they're staying there. What did you two come up with?"

"I think the mirror is on the planet where you were captured sir. From how Daniel's described it I think I came through it while trying to escape. Colonel, there's a very good chance that my team is still there and are still prisoners. Request permission to return to the planet and go through the mirror to find out?"

"Daniel?"

"It makes sense. We first noticed that she was acting weird at the debriefing."

Jack nodded. He and Hammond had come up with the same thing. "We ship out at 0900. Captain, nothing personal but I've got guest quarters assigned to you," he said, not liking the thought of the stranger staying in his captain's quarters. The woman had already come close to totally usurping her life, no need to give her any more.

"I understand sir," she said softly. From the relief in her voice Daniel almost thought she envisioned sleeping in the brig.

"Level 15 room C-23. There should be clothes and toiletries in there from the PX. If not let the guard know," he motioned to the SF standing in the hall. Obviously promising the general she wouldn't leave the base only carried so far.

"Yes sir. Goodnight." She exited the room and turned left, the SF at her side.

"Was that really necessary Jack?" Daniel asked.

"She's an outsider Daniel. And all outsiders have to be escorted."

"She's Sam. Hell she built half of this place."

"Yet another good reason to keep an eye on her. Daniel, she's not stupid. She had to have at least suspected that something was wrong and she said nothing. She was here a week and said NOTHING," Jack said. "If the Tok'ra hadn't have stumbled across Carter in that cell she'd have slipped into her life. Tell me how the hell I'm supposed to trust someone who does that?"

"Maybe if you gave her a chance…"

"The only chance I'm giving her is to get her ass back into her own universe where it belongs," he said angrily. "We leave at 0900 sharp. Don't be late," he warned, turning on his heel and leaving the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Janet got up and walked around the room, stretching her arms and rolling her neck. The Tok'ra standard for furniture might be efficient but it was far from comfy.

"Doctor, how is she?" She turned to see Jacob walking into the chamber trailed by the healer, Asha she remembered her name was.

"Better general. She's responding to the antibiotics although I'd really prefer to have a chest x-ray to make sure," Janet said, walking back to the bed. "She's sleeping a lot, which is perfectly normal." The doctor reported.

"Antibiotics? Jacob has used this term before but I do not understand it," Asha said, moving closer. Clearly curious. When she'd arrived days ago the woman had been most defensive almost as though she was afraid of Janet's reaction.

"It's one way we fight an infection, which is what Sam has. We introduce a small amount of bacteria into the system that works with the body's own defenses to defeat the infection.

She nodded. "And this?" She pointed to the IV hanging from a jury-rigged hook in the crystal wall.

"It's an IV. We use it to deliver drugs and nutrients to a patient who's unable to take them in on their own."

"How does putting drugs into her flesh help her?"

"It's not going into her flesh, not really. The needle is going directly into her blood stream. That's one reason she was so sick, she was badly dehydrated. The fluids are helping that, along with getting the drugs directly into her blood without having to be processed by her body," Janet explained, silently amazed by the lack of knowledge in the advanced people. "If one of you are hurt badly what do you do?"

The healer reached into her robes and drew out the healing device. "We use this to heal serious physical injuries, ones that are too severe for the symbiote to handle. Then we let the host sleep while the symbiote repairs the body."

"You said you used one of these on her?" Janet asked, remembering bits of conversation between herself and Jacob.

"Yes. She had internal injuries, she was bleeding inside. We repaired that but then the fever set in and there was nothing we could do," Asha reported.

Janet took the device from her and looked at it. "It's amazing. This thing will fix internal bleeding without surgery but can't tackle a simple infection."

"We have had no need. Will she recover?" Asha laid her hand on Sam's arm.

"I think so. She gets stronger every day. I hope to take her home soon. Nothing against your guys' hospitality but…"

"You are more comfortable in your own place," the healer finished with a knowing smile.

"Play your cards right Asha and I might be able to convince Garshaw that you should accompany us back to Earth," Jacob said. "We could call it a cultural exchange or something."

"Really? I would like to do that," she said to Jacob then turned to Janet. "On my home planet I was a healer but nothing as advanced as this."

Janet shrugged. "You showed me your infirmary, the least I could do is show you mine. Who knows, this may not be the last time you find some injured humans," the doctor said.

"I would like that Doctor Fraiser." The woman smiled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Daniel stood outside the door to Sam's quarters his hands fidgeting with his hat. "Sam. We're going to be late," he called gaining him a barely smothered look of amusement from the SF. With a glare that promised retribution he knocked again. It was 0850 and he knew from experience that if they weren't in the gateroom and ready to disembark at 0855 Jack was going to have another excuse to be grumpy. "Sam, we really need to…"

The door opened and she stepped out, leaving it open behind her. From the shadows beneath her eyes and her slightly ruffled hair he guessed that she'd over slept. "Sorry. I didn't hear the alarm," she said.

"That's ok. We just have to hurry is all. You know Jack and his five minute rule," he remarked leading her down the corridor to the elevator the SF trailing behind.

"I'm well acquainted with it," she said. He summoned the elevator and the trio waited in strained silence then boarded the car the same way. The door opened at level 27 and Daniel stood expectantly waiting for her to get out. "What?" She asked, clearly puzzled.

"The armory? Don't you need to get your gun?"

Sam looked at the SF. "They gave me plastic silverware to eat dinner with last night. I don't think I'm going to get a rifle," she said, reaching past him to punch the button for level 28.

"That doesn't make any sense. No one goes off world disarmed," he remarked flashing back to hours of fruitless arguments about him carrying his pistol.

"That only applies to people they want to come back. And believe me, Colonel O'Neill doesn't give a damn if I do. In fact if I were to fall down and break my neck right now it'd save him the hassle of returning me through the mirror," she said matter of factly, seemingly not bothered by the colonel's open dislike of her. The door opened and she strode out. "Come on Daniel, let's get this over with."

Shrugging at the SF he followed her down the hall and into the gateroom, noting that she didn't even attempt to go to the control room. Sam, make that his Sam, always went to the control room first.

He followed her, entering the cavernous room and nodding at Teal'c. Upon hearing about what had happened while he'd been ill, the Jaffa had demanded to go with them to return this Sam to her reality. Daniel had the idea Teal'c was lucky that Janet was off world and that Warner was afraid of him. Teal'c stood beside Jack at the base of the ramp, and several feet from Sam. "It's about time," the colonel said.

"My apologies sir. It won't happen again," Sam said.

"Damn straight it won't," Jack said as the wormhole opened. He hung back then motioned for Sam to go first. "Ladies and imposters first."

"With a shrug she climbed up the ramp. Shooting Jack an angry look, Daniel hurried up and joined her as they both crossed the event horizon.

"Let's go," Jack said, ignoring the Jaffa's disapproving look as they climbed the ramp and entered the wormhole.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What do you think?" Jack asked, handing the binoculars to Teal'c.

"It looks deserted," Daniel said, handing his to Sam.

"How can it be deserted? There were a few hundred rather unpolite people in there last week."

"Perhaps they left O'Neill."

"Left to go where? This is the only structure the UAV saw."

"Wait. What did he say?"

"Who say Daniel?"

"The guy that captured us. He said something."

"Move and we will kill you," Jack remembered. "Rather unoriginal."

"After that part."

"He was angry at us for bringing weapons into the sanctity of the retreat," Teal'c remembered.

"Exactly. He also said something about the clans."

"Yeah so? What does this have to do with castle abandoned over there?"

"Among nomadic cultures it was common for the clans to have a yearly meeting. It was a time to make alliances, share news, barter and trade," Sam said, earning her a look.

"She's right. That's where lots of the harvest festivals got their start. They could actually be rather interesting and tense times. The clans that had spent most of the last year fighting each other would gather under a flag of truce," Daniel confirmed.

"Occasionally the system lords gather in such a fashion. Weapons are strictly forbidden and the truce absolute," Teal'c said. "It is a highly unusual and dangerous time for all. Many alliances are forged and assassinations planned."

"Well call me stupid but I'm not in the mood to sample their hospitality again. We'll wait until nightfall. It'll either give us cover or…"

"If the light's not on no one's home," Daniel finished.

They carefully pulled back from the small crest they were situated on and sought the shelter of a small copse of trees. Sam sat down a short distance away from the other three, careful to maintain her distance without going too far. The last thing she needed was for him to think she was running away and shoot her, she thought morosely.  Leaning her head against the tree trunk she closed her eyes feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over her. She was so tired. Not just from a sleepless night but of it all. She hadn't realized just how much she'd missed the camaraderie until she was reminded of how it used to be. Maybe she would ask for that transfer when she made it back to her own SGC. Even the petty back biting of the Pentagon hadn't been as bad as Colonel O'Neill's ire.

"Is this seat taken?" She opened her eyes and looked up as Daniel plopped down beside her. Silently he offered her one of his energy bars and his canteen. She took it with a smile and tore into the plastic wrapper breakfast having been way down on her list of things to do this morning.

"Thanks."

He shrugged. "I always have a hard time eating before a mission, nerves I guess."

"I'm taking a walk," Jack stated, getting to his feet. "Keep an eye on her," he instructed Teal'c as he walked past him.

Daniel watched him go and sighed. "He's not usually like this," he apologized to her.

"It's ok Daniel, I understand," she said.

"Well I'm glad you do because I don't."

"O'Neill's anger towards Captain Carter would be much abated had our Captain Carter not come to harm,"

Teal'c said, moving closer.

"Exactly. My Colonel O'Neill's the same way."

"I don't get it," Daniel said, puzzled.

"After Cassandra he…I guess he knew how I felt so…he was protective, he'd do his best to keep me close and out of harm's way. That's why I was at the gate on Nasyia. He thought I'd do something stupid so he made sure I wouldn't."

"Do something stupid? I still don't understand."

"Did you try to take your life?" Teal'c asked earning him a shocked look from Daniel.

"No. But I really didn't care if someone else did. And he knew it. Which is why I was at the gate and my Daniel tried to save Jolinar's host and became one himself. Add to that the fact that I brought the askrak to earth…he just really, really doesn't like me."

"Not that I doubt you or anything but I have a hard time seeing Jack that way. Heck he's nicer to Maybourne and we all have very sound reasons to dislike him. I mean you made a mistake. I made the same ones and he doesn't hate me," Daniel said.

"It's different with you. You're a civilian, and you and he are good friends, just like my colonel and my Daniel. He can forgive you your mistakes; he can't forgive someone who left a child behind to die her mistakes. That's just the way it is," she said, resigned.

Daniel looked to Teal'c and shrugged. They both knew that Jack could be a vindictive SOB at times, but never towards one of his own. He honestly wondered how much of her O'Neill's dislike of her was real and how much was fed by the guilt she carried. "I still don't understand it. There has to be something else."

She shook her head. "Maybe. But I just can't look for it anymore. I'm tired of fighting Daniel. I'm tired of being on my guard whenever I'm around him, or you for that matter. As soon as I get home I'm going to see about transferring somewhere, resign maybe. I though I could deal with it but being here, seeing how it used to be…I can't anymore. Maybe it is all in my head, I don't know. I just…I need a fresh start," she said with a watery smile, none of them realizing that their conversation was being overheard.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Several hours later the quartet cautiously made their way through the deserted corridors of the palace. They'd waited at their vantage point until it was almost dusk then, seeing no signs of habitation or illumination, decided that it must indeed be deserted. Using the last of the waning sunshine they traveled down the embankment and slipped into the structure. They retraced their steps from over a week ago descending into the lower levels of the building where they'd been held. All along the way they ran into no other signs of life than a few stray cat like creatures that they figured had to come with the place.

Finally reaching the lowest level Jack paused, playing his flashlight beam down one of three passageways. "Which way Captain?"

Sam stepped away from him, also using her flashlight to study the walls. "I'm not sure sir. They took me from the cell and then once I broke free I made a couple of wrong turns."

"I think it was that way," Daniel said, pointing to their right.

"You think?"

"Well I didn't exactly have time to drop bread crumbs. If I'd have known we were coming back I'd have paid more attention."

"We'll got this way. Sing out if anything looks familiar Captain," Jack instructed, taking the lead.

They walked for a bit pausing at junctions for Teal'c to score the grime covered stones with marks so they could find their way out. After walking for about an hour they came upon their cell, the door hanging ajar like they'd left it. "Which way Captain?" Jack said, playing his beam around the interior of the cell.

She turned and closed her eyes, plumbing her memory. "This way sir," she said, leading off to their left. Jack picked up the pace so he was walking at her side.

"Teal'c's told us why they picked on him," he said remembering the briefing he'd gotten from the Jaffa the night before when he'd went to the man's room to tell him about the mission. "They had a thing for Jaffa. And they didn't want anything from Daniel or I except to know what clan we belonged to. What did they want from you?" he asked.

"Sir?"

"You never said in the briefing. What did they want from you? I mean these were fairly unenlightened guys, most of the women I saw were servants or wives."

She sighed and shrugged. "They trade things at these gathering."

"Things?"

"Alliances, information…wives. If we'd have hung around a bit longer I think you would have gotten an offer sir."

"An offer?"

"The chief seemed most willing to take me off of your hands. You know you don't HAVE to escort me to the mirror." She changed the subject abruptly. "I will go through it. You guys could be back at the gate and home by morning."

"We could," he admitted. "But if the rest of your team is in the same shape as Carter was, you'll need the help getting them to your gate."

"Colonel, it's not safe for you to go through the mirror. Theoretically two versions of the same person shouldn't be able to exist in the same universe at the same time. I'm safe here only because I'm different from your Sam Carter. The same should be true for Daniel. But you and Teal'c would be at risk. The safest thing would be for me to go through on my own."

"And if the party hasn't broken up on the other side like it has here? You could end up some chief's newest wife," he said quietly. "We're escorting you through the mirror and to your gate, " he stated.

"Colonel, with respect, it makes no sense to risk three lives. All you need to do to accomplish your mission is to get me through the mirror. Your reality's safe, mine is back to the way it was. You can destroy the mirror just to be sure, although I'm sure the general will lock this planet out of the dialing computer."

"Well there's one way I'm different than your O'Neill. I don't send members of my team off without back up."

"I'm not a member of your team sir," she reminded. The beam from the flashlight played over the floor in front of them. She stopped and knelt down.

"What?"

"Scuff marks." She turned and shined her light into a small alcove, her eyes growing wide as it illuminated but didn't reflect off of the smooth back wall. "There it is." She got to her feet and walked towards it stopping when Jack put out a restraining hand.

"Daniel, look familiar?"

The archaeologist stepped forward and shined his light into the opening. "I guess. It's a mirror."

"We know that."

"That we have no reflection in. So unless we're all vampires it looks remarkably similar to the one on 233."

"Ok. How do we work it? Secret password or…"

"I was backing into the alcove, hiding from the guards," Sam said.

"Last time I just touched it," Daniel confirmed.

"Ok. So we touch it."

Sam stepped forward ready to cross the portal, then stopped again as Jack restrained her. "I'll go first and make sure it's clear. If I don't come back in ten seconds follow," he ordered. They stood back as Jack took a deep breath and splayed his fingers on the smooth surface of the mirror, disappearing in a tiny wrinkle of space. Ten seconds later, one by one, they followed and emerged in an exact replica of the place they'd left.

"This is déjà vu all over again," Daniel said quietly.

"Were you kept in the same cell that we were?" Jack asked.

"Yes sir."

"We'll start there. Everyone stay alert." They, in essence, retraced their steps and soon arrived at the cell in which they'd been confined in the other reality. Unlike there, the door to this cell was closed and barred. Her heart in her throat Sam hurried forward and stood on her toes, trying to maneuver her flashlight around the bars on the window.

"Captain Carter." Teal'c gently pushed her aside and lifted the heavy bar, opening the thick door. They followed her into the dark room and shined their lights about, each coming up with nothing but barren wall and moldy straw.

"They must have gotten out," Daniel said.

"Must have," Sam replied, unconvinced.

"We'll check the rest of the cells to be sure," Jack said. "Carter, you and Daniel stay here."

"Colonel."

"Carter, that's an order. Teal'c and I will check them out and then come back for you two. If something happens RV where we were today." With that and a small wave he and Teal'c walked away, leaving Sam and Daniel alone.

They returned about half an hour later pleasantly empty handed. "Nothing," Jack reported. Although not finding them didn't necessarily make them alive, as long as they didn't find bodies there was still a chance.

"They had to have escaped," Daniel said, more than a little relieved that his friends hadn't come back carrying corpses.

"Then they probably went home," Sam said.

"Well this place gives me the creeps. I say we go back to the RV spot and catch a few Z's then start towards the gate at first light," Jack said.

"Sir, escorting me to the gate isn't' necessary. I'm in my reality and you should return to yours," Sam protested again.

"It's been a long time since someone's been that eager to get rid of me," Jack quipped.

"Colonel, with respect, the longer you stay here the more danger you're in. We have no ides the effects of transdimensional travel on the human body…"

"Aah." Jack cut her off. "We're seeing you through the gate and back to your SGC. If you're so worried about it, stop arguing and we'll travel faster."

"Yes sir," she surrendered the argument, internally grateful that she wouldn't have to make her way back to the gate alone and unarmed.

"Teal'c. You can get us back out of here?"

"I can," the Jaffa stated.

"Good. Let's go get some fresh air."

With only two wrong turns Teal'c led the humans out of the palace and towards their previous campsite. Aware that there could be members of the clans still lurking, they traveled quietly, using only the moonlight to guide their way. When they were within a hundred yards of their destination Teal'c held up his hand, motioning for them to stop and drop.

Jack crept up to the Jaffa. "What ya got?"

"It appears that your campsite is already occupied O'Neill," he said, pointing out the faint glimmer of fire light through the trees.

"Hundreds of miles of forest and they pick my spot," he complained.

"We should seek shelter elsewhere."

"We will. As soon as I find out who the neighbors are. Be back in a few." Jack made his way to the campsite drawing upon years of practice and skill. He moved through the underbrush, adrenaline making his senses sing. As he drew closer he could hear the normal sounds of a camp at rest. The crackle of the fire, the occasional rustle of sleeping bags. He could smell the acrid aroma of coffee left too long by the fire. Coffee? When the hell had aliens started drinking coffee?

With a sigh he got to his feet and walked forward leaving stealth behind. He made it about ten yards when a flash of movement caused him to stop in his tracks, the business end of a staff weapon just inches from his face. "Hey ya Teal'c. Glad to see you're feeling better," he quipped, perversely enjoying the incredulous look that crossed the man's face. It wasn't often he got to catch the centenarian flat footed.

Twenty minutes later the seven members of SG-1 were gathered around the campfire. "So how did you guys get out?" Jack asked his…hosts he guessed. It was their reality after all.

"They took Carter," O'Neill nodded at his now un-missing captain. "And then when they…lost her it apparently broke some big hospitality rule."

"What Jack means is under the truce the safety of all the guests, even uninvited ones is absolute. When Sam, our Sam," He shot a relieved glance at his newly found teammate. "Disappeared it put the chief in a bad place. Oddly enough it's ok to beat them up and interrogate them, just don't let them disappear. He had to…compensate Jack for her loss."

"Compensate?" Sam asked.

"The chief offered O'Neill a wide variety of replacements for you Captain Carter," Teal'c said, "All of which he refused most stridently."

"Which got us escorted back to the gate at sword point," Daniel interjected, "With a very definite 'Do not return."

"Then why are you here? There's no way the general would have authorized a mission just to retrieve a body," Sam asked totally at a loss.

Her three teammates shared guilty looks. "They're AWOL," Jack stated.

"Colonel?" Sam turned to her CO.

"No matter how big of a bastard you may think I am Carter, I'm not leaving anyone behind," the colonel stated harshly. "None of us will."

"Well. Now that we've handed off our spare Carter, I think it's time for Daniel, Teal'c and I to head back to our universe," Jack stated eager to leave the suddenly tense atmosphere.

"Jack. It's the middle of the night. And I wanted to talk to….me about things," his Daniel protested.

"Daniel, if Carter's right the longer we stay here the more likely it is that bad things could happen," Jack said, getting purposefully to his feet. "And anyway, what difference could knowing a bunch of 'what ifs' make? Our reality is the one we have to live in not theirs. Now let's go."

The three foreign members of SG-1 gathered together to bid farewell to their counterparts. "Colonel? A moment?" His host asked of Jack. The two men stepped aside. "Thank you for bringing her back," he said sincerely.

"She didn't want to come back you know?"

Jack sighed. "That doesn't surprise me," he said tiredly.

"Colonel, I'm not going to tell you how to run your team, I know it'd irritate the hell outta me if someone tried to tell me how to treat my people but…whatever blame you may place on her…it's nothing compared top what she puts on herself."

"I don't blame her. None of us do," he protested.

"That's not what she thinks."

"Look. I tried to talk to her after they brought Cassie out. She said it was fine. I told her I didn't blame her for Daniel getting snaked, she said she believed me. Daniel's told her, hell even Teal'c has told her. Each time we get a 'I understand' or 'I'm fine',"

Jack snorted. "Hell, my Carter said she was fine when she stood on the ramp with a snake in her head. Fine with her is like fine with Daniel. Right or wrong she's convinced that you all hate her guts. Now you do what you want but if you don't want her to transfer out of the SGC you've got to convince her otherwise."

O'Neill looked from his counterpart to the rest of his team, Daniel and Teal'c talking quietly to their alternate universe selves, each staying protectively close to their newly recovered teammate.  He flashed back to the scene in the control room earlier that day. He'd been trying to work out a way to bypass security and come back to the planet and recover his officer when he'd been joined by Daniel and Teal'c, both eager to help him recover their friend. Maybe that was the difference, they saw the person behind the rank. He could do that. "I'll work on it," he promised his counterpart. "Where's your Carter by the way?"

"She's off visiting her dad," he said, not wanting to go into details.

"Her dad? He's dead."

"Carter can bore you with all the nifty differences," he dismissed. "We really have to go." O'Neill nodded. "Daniel, Teal'c…the ones who don't belong here, let's go," Jack said waving them forward. The trio melted into the night leaving behind the four newly reunited members of SG-1.

O'Neill turned to his team. "I think it's a sure bet none of us are gonna get any more sleep tonight. "Carter, care to fill us in on what happened on the other side of the looking glass?" He invited, joining them by the fire. He met the relieved looks of the male members of his team. At least bringing the captain back would pretty much take care of  the court-martial for appropriating the gate without approval.

They just needed some serious bonding time. Maybe he'd take them all up to his cabin in Minnesota. It'd be a perfect place to let their hair down and clear the air. He'd obviously ignored the problem too long, hoping that it would go away or fix itself. And he knew all too well the perils of letting guilt and grief rule your life. He could fix this, they could fix this.

"Colonel?" she asked accepting a cup of coffee from Daniel.

"Come on Carter, be honest. Do I really look that fat?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fresh from a meeting with General Hammond, Jack strode down the hall on level 21 and towards the infirmary. They'd returned to earth the equivalent of 0400 this morning relieved to discover that Janet had brought Sam back from Vorash while they'd been gone. A shower, breakfast and a debriefing with Hammond later and it was now 0800. He was exhausted but wanted to stop by and check on Carter before he headed to his quarters to catch some sleep. As he entered the infirmary he heard the odd sound of 'Kung Fu Fighter' barely audible through the laughter. Curious he made his way to the far bed, which was shrouded by privacy curtains, not surprised to see two other pairs of legs present. Looked like Daniel and Teal'c had beaten him. As he stepped around the curtain, the tinny music stopped though the laughter continued.

"Daniel, where did you get this?" Sam asked, wiping tears of laughter off her face the slight hitch of a cough in her voice.

"Teal'c saw it in the PX," the archaeologist explained a broad grin on his face. "He insisted that we get it for you."

"Doctor Fraiser has said on more than one occasion that laughter is the best medicine," the jaffa said a smug smirk on his face.

"Dare I ask what you three are up to?" Jack said, joining the group.

"Colonel. Good morning."

"How'd it go with Hammond?" Daniel asked.

"No big deal," Jack replied not wanting to go into detail. In reality his meeting with Hammond had been to go over Carter's report about what had happened on the planet. They'd been lucky this time; all the guards had done had taken a little revenge for being beaten up by a girl. Which, he guessed, had been why they'd left her in the cell, to hide that they'd violated the truce when they'd beat her up. He hated to admit it, but they owed the Tok'ra one. If their operative hadn't have been there… "I hear you're getting sprung," he said to change the subject.

"Tomorrow, if Janet's in a good mood," Sam answered. "Now that she's done poking me with needles all she wants me to do is sleep, which I can do at home better than here," She said, looking at the ceiling as the klaxons sounded, muted but still audible in the ward.

"That would be SG-11 with something for you," Jack said, pointing at Daniel.

"Ooh. They're back already?" He got to his feet. SG-11 had been sent to P3R833 to excavate a site first found by SG-1 two months ago. "I thought they weren't due back for another week." He turned to leave the room then turned back slightly guilty looking. "Sam…"

"I'm not going anywhere. Have fun," she said with a smile.

"Teal'c, you want to make sure he goes to sleep sometime today," Jack suggested.

"As you wish O'Neill. Captain Carter I will return later."

"See ya," she waved as the pair left the room. "Colonel, I bet the 'sleep' thing applies to you too sir. According to Janet you guys have been up all night."

"I will. In a minute…"

"You know sir, Daniel's talked about his trip to the other reality a few times, how things were so similar that he really had no idea what was going on for a while. With all the almost infinite varieties I'd imagine that there are realities out there that you could slip into and not notice the difference," she said, fiddling with the toy on her lap.

"Carter…"

"It's ok sir. I mean we brought back an alien Jack O'Neill a year ago and never would have noticed it until the alien blew up and irradiated half the town."

Jack accepted the absolution, reaching out to take the toy from her hands. "What is this?" He studied the small figure. "Kung Fu Hamster?" He quirked his eyebrows.

"Pinch his hand," she instructed.

"Huh?"

"Like this." She reached out and pinched the tiny switch under the toy's left hand. Immediately it sprang to life with a tinny rendition of 'Kung Fu Fighter, its little arms dancing to the music and a tiny num-chuk in its right hand swirling to the music.

Jack stared at the little Gi attired figure as Sam started to laugh. "It's totally stupid but it's the funniest thing I've ever seen," She said as the tiny creature finished its number and cycled back to stillness.

"Teal'c bought this?" Jack asked, chuckling despite himself.

"Aahah. What are you thinking?" She asked, seeing the evil look in her commanding officer's eyes.

"That there's a dancing cowboy Santa out there with the general's name on it," he said imagining the look on his CO's face.

Sam laughed again. "That's good. But I have to warn you sir, if you get Teal'c the singing Christmas Tree half the people on this base will kill you. Once those things start they never shut up," she warned.

"I'll just get him the clapper to plug it in to," he dismissed.

"Colonel, I warn you if you even think of buying Cassandra anything that requires batteries I'll think up at least fifteen shots you need, all with six inch long needles," Janet threatened, walking into the cubicle.

"Oh come on Doc. That's half the fun," Jack said, getting to his feet.

"Well in that case you won't mind assembling the bike I'm getting her," Janet said, holding Sam's chart to her chest and giving the colonel 'the look'.

"Doc…"

"Sam needs her rest, and so do you as a matter of fact. Now shoo." She made little sweeping movements with her hand.

"Ok. Ok. I get the hint. Carter, I'll see you later." With a quick wave he left the room.

"Janet, I'm not tired. I've slept most of the last week," Sam complained.

"I know. I just wanted him to go so I could see your toy," the doctor said with a grin. She reached out and tweaked the hamster's paw starting it playing again.

Fin


End file.
